Impact of resilience enhancing programs on youth surviving the Beslan school siege

The objective of this study was to evaluate a resilience-enhancing program for youth (mean age = 13.32 years) from Beslan, North Ossetia, in the Russian Federation. The program, offered in the summer of 2006, combined recreation, sport, and psychosocial rehabilitation activities for 94 participants, 46 of who were taken hostage in the 2004 school tragedy and experienced those events first hand. Self-reported resilience, as measured by the CD-RISC, was compared within subjects at the study baseline and at two follow-up assessments: immediately after the program and 6 months later. We also compared changes in resilience levels across groups that differed in their traumatic experiences. The results indicate a significant intra-participant mean increase in resilience at both follow-up assessments, and greater self-reported improvements in resilience processes for participants who experienced more trauma events

La valutazione psicologica del bambino

Se un bambino si trova ad affrontare delle difficolt\ue0 lungo il suo percorso di sviluppo \ue8 importante sostenerlo adeguatamente e il pi\uf9 precocemente possibile. Il primo passo da compiere \ue8 individuare correttamente il problema e misurarne l\u2019intensit\ue0. Lo psicologo ha disposizione una serie di strumenti di valutazione che deve scegliere con attenzione e utilizzare in modo valido, affidabile ed etico. Il volume presenta metodi e strumenti per la valutazione psicologica del bambino suddivisi nelle aree tradizionalmente utilizzate per descrivere lo sviluppo (cognitiva e socio-emotiva) includendo il contesto familiare, scolastico e culturale, anche se le autrici sottolineano l\u2019importanza di un assessment multi-metodo e multi-informant che preveda l\u2019utilizzo di tecniche differenti e prenda in considerazione contemporaneamente i diversi punti di vista, perch\ue9 il bambino \ue8 \u201cuno\u201d. La prima parte \ue8 dedicata alla valutazione dello sviluppo cognitivo, con la presentazione dei test per l\u2019assessment neuropsicologico, dell\u2019intelligenza, del linguaggio, delle difficolt\ue0 d\u2019apprendimento e del gioco. Nella seconda parte si affronta lo sviluppo socio-emotivo e vengono descritti gli strumenti per la valutazione del temperamento, del legame di attaccamento, dell\u2019adattamento quotidiano, del benessere socio-emotivo, dello stress e strategie di coping in ambito pediatrico. La terza parte \ue8 dedicata all\u2019approfondimento delle tecniche per la valutazione del contesto di sviluppo, con particolare riferimento alla famiglia - anche in ottica cross-culturale- e alla scuola. Ci si \ue8 concentrati particolarmente sulla descrizione degli strumenti disponibili per la popolazione italiana, discutendone i modi di impiego, i punti di forza e di debolezza, per favorire nel lettore una conoscenza integrata e critica. Il volume si rivolge a tutti i professionisti della salute che lavorino in ambito evolutivo

Psychological adaptation among second-generation Moroccan adolescents: associations with sense of community and country of residence

Increasing evidence suggests that immigrant youths\u2019 social integration varies widely across national contexts, but the factors explaining this variation at the individual and societal levels are still under debate. Drawing upon developmental and community psychology approaches, the current study aimed to investigate psychological adaptation in terms of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and psychological problems among second-generation Moroccan adolescents and their national peers in the Netherlands and Italy. Furthermore, we examined the role of sense of community (SoC) in these youths\u2019 outcomes. Participants were 90 Moroccan-origin and 208 national adolescents aged between 17 and 20 years, who completed a questionnaire survey. Results indicated that life satisfaction was overall higher in the Netherlands than in Italy. Moreover, Moroccan and Dutch youth reported similar levels of self-esteem and psychological problems, whereas Italian youths fared less well than their Moroccan peers. The positive association between SoC and life satisfaction was stronger for Moroccan adolescents in both countries; SoC was related to higher self-esteem and fewer psychological problems, but only in Italy. The findings suggest that characteristics of the host society are crucial for the psychological adjustment of second-generation Moroccan adolescents, and that programs targeting SoC may boost these youths\u2019 positive adaptation and social integration

The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure \u2013 Revised (MEIM-R): Psychometric evaluation with adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups in Italy

The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure \u2013 Revised (MEIM-R) is an extensively used questionnaire assessing ethnic identity. However, studies on its measurement characteristics in the European context are lacking. The current study addressed this gap by investigating the MEIM-R psychometric proprieties across multiple ethnocultural groups in Italy. Participants were 1445 adolescents (13\u201318 years) of Italian, East European, and North African origin. Results showed that the MEIM-R has good internal consistency. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses revealed configural and metric invariance, i.e., an equal, correlated two-factor structure (ethnic identity exploration and commitment) and equal factor loadings across groups. Scalar invariance, i.e., equal item intercepts, was found only for the commitment scores that showed no group differences in latent factor mean levels. Partial structural invariance was evidenced, with the factor covariances varying across groups. These findings suggest that the MEIM-R is a valuable tool to assess the correlates of ethnic identity, although further research is needed

Cardiac vagal tone and executive functions: Moderation by physical fitness and family support

Executive functions (EFs) are crucial for academic success and have recently been linked to the ability to self-regulate in terms of cardiac vagal tone. The current study used a sample of 131 first-and second graders to examine whether the expected association between cardiac vagal tone (indexed by rMSSD) and EFs (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) was moderated by children's physical fitness and perceived family support. Linear regression analyses revealed that the cardiac vagal tone-inhibitory control link was moderated by physical fitness. Specifically, children with low cardiac vagal tone performed worse on the inhibitory control task when their physical fitness was low. Furthermore, family support moderated the association between cardiac vagal tone and cognitive flexibility: children with high cardiac vagal tone performed better on the cognitive flexibility task when family support was high. Implications for theory and educational practice are discussed